Hands-On With Apple's New 6.5-Inch iPhone XS Max

It’s officially iPhone launch day, which means iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max models are in Apple retail stores and have been delivered to customers all around the world. The first pre-orders began arriving this morning in the United States and millions of customers now have the new devices.

We got our hands on one of the new iPhone XS Max models this morning to check out that huge new screen, the new 6.5-inch size, the camera improvements, and the faster internals.

The iPhone XS Max’s display measures in at 6.5-inches, and it features the biggest screen that Apple’s ever introduced. Size wise, the iPhone XS Max is a good bit larger than the iPhone X and XS, but it’s smaller in size than the iPhone 8 Plus despite the bigger display. It’s bigger than the iPhone X, and smaller than the latest Galaxy phone.

Though large, the iPhone XS Max feels surprisingly light in the hand, perhaps due to its thin 7.7mm body and clever weight distribution by Apple. The bigger display looks incredible, as should be no surprise, and it’s amazing for watching videos, looking at photos, or playing video games.

Face ID is slightly faster in the iPhone XS Max thanks to the improved A12 Bionic chip and neural engine, and the camera, though using the same 12-megapixel dual-lens system as the iPhone X, has some internal improvements that produce noticeably better photos.

We’ll be doing a much deeper dive into the camera and comparing it with the iPhone X camera so stay tuned for that, but suffice it to say the iPhone XS Max camera is a solid upgrade over the camera in the iPhone X.

The A12 processor is 15 percent faster than the A11, which isn’t super noticeable, but it does result in much better battery life. iPhone XS Max lasts an hour and a half longer than the iPhone X.

Many Apple retail stores had iPhone XS and XS Max stock available for walk-in purchases this morning, and stock should be replenished regularly. Orders placed today on the website won’t ship out until October, though, so the store is your best bet if you didn’t pre-order.

Pricing on the iPhone XS starts at $999 and pricing on the iPhone XS Max starts at $1,099.